At least eight people were killed and 18 others injured Friday in a bomb attack in a Shiite neighborhood of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, according to a report by the Afghan police.
The attack was claimed in the early evening by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), which has already hit the Shiite community on several occasions.
The bomb was planted “in a handcart full of vegetables” on a busy shopping street in the neighborhood, Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran told AFP. The attack came as Shiites are due to commemorate Ashura on Monday, an important religious holiday when worshipers gather in mosques and take part in processions.
“Security teams are trying to find the perpetrators” of the attack, added Khalid Zadran, adding that some injured people are “in critical condition”.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns this cowardly act which is the work of those who are enemies of Islam and the country,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a tweet.
The Shiite community, which represents between 10 and 20% of the Afghan population, has been persecuted for a long time in this country with a Sunni majority.
The number of attacks has fallen in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power nearly a year ago, but a series of deadly bomb attacks, in which dozens of people were killed, hit the country at the end of April, during the holy month of Ramadan, and at the end of May.
Most have been claimed by the IS group, which primarily targets Shiite, Sufi and Sikh religious minorities. In particular, he considers the Shiite minority to be heretical.